SINO-US
AGREEMENTS
COLD WAR TEXTBOOK PAGES 153 –
157
From suspicion to
interest, 1949 to 1969
• Overall hostility:
• US supported Taiwan
• Mao wanted to reassure
Stalin
• Stalin dies  Mao
wants technology but
Korean War
• Mao accused
Khrushchev of being
soft on capitalism
From suspicion to
interest, 1949 to 1969
• After the Sino-Soviet split China
needed allies
• China was even more isolated
during the Cultural Revolution
• China and the US supporting
enemy camps during the
Vietnam War
• China worried about USSR and
feared Brezhnev Doctrine
Sino-Soviet border
clashes of 1969
• 1969: Mao wanted a small controlled clash
– it backfired
• Fight escalated: other clashes over disputed
areas
• USSR even considered attacking Chinese
nuclear facilities
• BUT Nixon took office in 1969
Sino-Soviet border
clashes of 1969
• Nixon and Kissinger wanted to
normalize relations
• US would not be neutral in a
USSR x China conflict
• Both Mao and Nixon wanted to
stop soviet expansion + worried
about Vietnam War
• Talks between US and China
resumed in Poland
• Mao still officially criticized US
actions (especially Vietnam)
US-Chinese rapprochement, 1971-1972
• Trigger for change was ping-pong diplomacy
• US player invited to play in Beijing (1971): PR success
• Pentagon Papers scandal: Nixon wanted to shift attention to China
US-Chinese
rapprochement, 1971-1972
• Kissinger’s secret trip to China, offered:
acceptance in the UN and full diplomatic
recognition by 1975
• Nixon visited China and PRC displace ROC: ***
Beijing got a permanent seat on the Security
Council + veto power ***
• US accepted the one-China policy
• Discussion stalled in 1974 because of internal
issues
Effects of Sino-US normalization on the
Cold War
• China kept aid to revolutionary gover. worldwide
• Mao exploited US fears of nuclear warfare
• Brezhnev was alarmed (signed treaties) but Soviet and Chinese relations worsened
• Nixon would never be accused on being soft on communism
• Nixon saw rapprochement with China as his most significant achievement
• Economic relations resumed in 1978 (Deng Xiaoping and Jimmy Carter) + 1979 US full recognition
as THE China
Duiker, William J. and Spielvogel, Jackson J.
The Essential World History. Cengage
Learning.
Reference List
Mamaux, Alexis. 2015. The Cold War:
Superpower tensions and rivalries. IB History
Course Book. Oxford IB Diploma Programme.